CEO Confidence Index May 2009

Chief Executive magazine’s CEO Index, the nation’s only monthly CEO Index, made another strong resurgence in May based on the responses collected from America’s top executives. In May, all components of the CEO Index continued to increase after a strong recovery in last month’s index.

The CEO Confidence Index rose 9 percent, to 75.7 points in May, making a 48 percent gain since it reached its lowest point in February 2009. Of the five sub indices, the Business Conditions Index, used to measure the confidence in business conditions, made the biggest gain, jumping more than 22 percent, to 68 points. Since reaching an all time low just two months ago in March 2009, the Business Condition Index has rebounded 83 percent.

“Over the past few months, we have noticed a positive shift in confidence among the CEOs polled” said JP Donlon, Editor-in-Chief of Chief Executive magazine. “CEOs are increasingly in the opinion that we’ve hit the bottom, as evidenced by their increasing confidence in the future of the economy.”

For the second straight month the Future Confidence Index, which measures the outlook of employment, economic and capital spending opportunities over the next quarter, is higher than current confidence implying that CEOs think business conditions will improve in the coming quarters. Similarly, CEOs’ confidence in the current business conditions have also improved with the Current Confidence Index, which measures the confidence of current employment, economic and investment conditions, increasing 4 percent to reach nearly 70 points, the highest point since November 2008 when the sub index started experiencing steep declines.

Demonstrating CEOs’ growing confidence in the economy, Jim Riley, CEO of Laclede Chain Manufacturing, said,“This is actually a great time for companies and the country to do some cleansing and prepare for a solid future.”

In line with other indices, the Employment Confidence Index, a sub index used to calculate overall confidence in the job market and that has been a leading indicator of employment conditions, also increased 10 percent, to nearly 52 points in May. Since reaching an all time low in December 2008, the Employment Confidence Index has rebounded by 58 percent. Furthermore, even though still very low, the number of executives who said employment will either increase or stay the same over the next quarter doubled to 14 and 33 percent, respectively, compared to last month.

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About Chief Executive

Chief Executive magazine (published since 1977) is the definitive source that CEOs turn to for insight and ideas that help increase their effectiveness and grow their business. Chief Executive Group also produces e-newsletters and online content at chiefexecutive.net and manages Chief Executive Network and other executive peer groups, as well as conferences and roundtables that enable top corporate officers to discuss key subjects and share their experiences within a community of peers. Chief Executive facilitates the annual “CEO of the Year,” a prestigious honor bestowed upon an outstanding corporate leader, nominated and selected by a group of peers, and is known throughout the U.S. and elsewhere for its annual ranking of Best & Worst States for Business. Visit www.chiefexecutive.net for more information.

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